PREVIEW: Wrexham Look For Giant Killing Against Chelsea | OneFootball

Wrexham AFC of the Championship will host Chelsea of the Premier League tomorrow evening at The Racecourse Ground in North Wales, as both sides look to reach the FA Cup Quarter-finals.

The Red Dragons knocked out Nottingham Forest on penalties in the third round before overcoming Championship play-off rivals Ipswich Town in the following stage of the competition. Meanwhile, Chelsea have comfortably seen off Charlton Athletic and Hull City on their journey to tomorrow’s clash.

Both sides come into this weekend’s clash off the back of important wins, with Wrexham beating Charlton at The Valley to extend their unbeaten run to five games, whilst Chelsea thumped Aston Villa 4-1 courtesy of a magnificent Joao Pedro hat-trick. The two sides sit in strong positions of their respective league tables, with Wrexham 6th in the Championship and Chelsea 5th in the top flight.

Wrexham, backed by Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac, have enjoyed a rapid rise through football over the last three years, completing back-to-back-to-back promotions which has taken them from the National League up to the second tier of English football where they now look poised for a play-off campaign which could see them win promotion to the Premier League come the end of May.

The managers of both sides, Phil Parkinson and Liam Rosenior, have met the media ahead of this clash with the latter confirming that his team won’t get too far ahead of themselves, “We don’t need to concentrate on the trophy or finals, we need to think about Wrexham.” He also hinted at some potential rotation for Saturday’s game, saying “I’m going to use the squad. I haven’t had the same starting XI in any game I’ve played. My idea and the club’s idea is to build a squad to win trophies. You need to rotate.”

Meanwhile, Parkinson touched on his side’s preparations “You’ve got to look at the opposition, how they play, how they build from the back, their key strengths in the game, and adapt at times towards that. Of course, you’re always concentrating on picking our team and getting us to play and to function to the best of our ability.

“That underdog fighting spirit has got to be there because we know we’re up against a team that are Club World Champions and they’ve got a lot of talent. However, It’s all about us giving a really good account of ourselves, and we’ll see where that takes us on the night.”

Saturday will mark the ninth competitive meeting between these two sides, but the first since February 1982 which saw the Welsh side pick up a 1-0 win over The Blues. They did however meet in a friendlies in both 2023 and 2024, with Chelsea winning the first 5-0 and the second ending in a 2-2 draw.

The game will take place on Saturday March 7th and kick-off is scheduled for 5:45pm (UK time.)